“Christ.” Was that rough rasp his voice?
“You might want to shut the door,” she said calmly as though he’d retained the ability to move at all.
Still, he somehow managed to do as she suggested without slamming it, without disturbing the rest of the household. “Is that the outfit for seduction I asked Beth to make for you?”
“I believe youorderedshe make it.” In a sinewy move, she rolled off the bed, giving him a good view of all that it didn’t cover, and his body reacted as though his hands were already skimming over that bare flesh. “I told you she could have used a bit more fabric.”
“It’s only a corset.”
Stopping in front of him, she glanced up into his eyes. “It does come with a skirt, but I thought why make you go to all the bother of removing it when I could simply not put it on.” Reaching up, she curled her fingers along his jaw. “I wasn’t certain you were coming back tonight.”
“I’ll always come back.” If she wasn’t standing there looking so delectable, he would have shared with her all that had delayed him, but it now seemed insignificant. He most certainly wouldn’t be tardy again. He started to shrug out of his jacket. She flattened a hand against his chest.
“I want to do it. I want to remove everything from your person.”
“You’ll be the death of me.”
“But won’t it be a lovely way to go?”
With a growl he took possession of the mouth with the power to utter words that had the capability of dropping him to his knees. He would never get enough of the taste of her, the feel of her, the fragrance of her. The boldness of her. Ah, yes, especially the boldness of her.
Without separating her lips from his, she shoved his jacket off his shoulders, down his arms. It landed with a soft thud on the floor.
Cradling her head between his hands, he adjusted the angle of her mouth slightly and took the kiss deeper, their tongues twisting and twining as her fingers skimmed over his waistcoat buttons, setting them all free. He admired her patience. He’d have been content to hear the buttons pinging across the room as they were sent flying with the force of the fabric being torn.
The satin garment landed against his jacket with merely a whisper. His neck cloth quickly followed. When she began unfastening the buttons on his shirt, he went to work on the cuffs, even though he hated that he had to take his hands from her to do it. Ah, but what he was going to doto her with his hands once he was free of all the blasted clothing.
He had to separate himself from her completely in order to pull the shirt over his head.
“Let me see to my boots.” He dropped into the nearby chair, grabbed a boot, stopped as his gaze fell on that little bit of pointed cloth that so effectively covered the sight of heaven. But if he was to dip his head just a little bit more...
“You’re only wearing the corset, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
He lifted his gaze to hers. “How can a bit of frippery drive me mad?”
“Does it?” Her innocent tone only served to increase the madness.
“You know it does.”
She pressed her lips together, smacked them, ran her tongue around them. Lord help him, he was going to spill his seed before he ever got out of his trousers. He jerked off his boots, his stockings. Stood. Reached for the buttons on his trousers—
Her hands landed on his. “I want to do it.”
“Do it quickly.”
She peered up at him with a saucy smile. “I’ll do it as I want.”
“Why are you torturing me?”
“Am I?”
“You know you are, you little witch.”
One button freed. Thank God.
“You always lead, and I follow,” she said quietly, studying the fall of his trousers. Surely, she could see that his swollen cock was about to cause the remaining secured buttons to pop off. “I want to lead tonight.”
